


Another Interesting Day

by frogfarm



Category: Firefly
Genre: Betrayal, Gen, Redemption, Remix, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-05
Updated: 2006-06-05
Packaged: 2019-01-30 04:03:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12645717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frogfarm/pseuds/frogfarm
Summary: Remix of That Scene in "Ariel".





	Another Interesting Day

**Author's Note:**

> Even going the other way, it ends up the same.

Take this sweet almost ain't worth it after the most stressful caper of a man's career, but easy money wins out every time. The knot on his forehead throbs like an angry pimple don't want to bust, and Jayne wants only to go to his bunk, strip off the stolen uniform that reeks of sweaty fear. Except the hair on his neck stands when Mal smiles and claps his shoulder, tickle in his gut like the night he claimed Vera, innards trying to crawl out in every direction.

So when the others depart, leaving them alone in the hold, he pretends more distraction than usual; laughs about his big payday, watches out the corner of both eyes. And when he finds his moment, Mal doesn't look surprised, or disappointed.

Just unconscious.

  


* * *

  


He comes to with an aching noggin and the distinct sense that he's had better days. Almost forgets his own name 'til he groans and rolls over, sees the black grill of the com speaker looming large beside him.

Then it all comes flooding back, and he wishes he'd stayed knocked out.

A sharp rap cuts through the remaining haze. He rises, stumbles to the window. The hard plastic square feels too bulky in his hand, all his strength required to keep the switch held.

"Jayne?"

"Yeah, Mal?"

The merc sounds the epitome of reason. His hope evaporates, but the dance continues.

"What're you doin'?"

The sneer, too, comes through loud and clear. "No more'n you were gonna."

"And just what precisely would that be?" Jayne flinches as Mal leans on the door, fixing him with a steely gaze. "'Cause I was fixin' to keelhaul me a traitor. Whereas you're lookin' like you've decided _I'm_ the problem on this ship."

"There ya go again! Gettin' all -- pretentious!" Jayne's breathing heavy enough to hear without the com. He steps back, wrestling with anger. Or maybe it's insufficient vocabulary; Mal could never quite distinguish. "You _are_ the problem."

"For you. Was your pay, 'til a moment ago." His heart quickens as the merc's other hand falls on the dock control panel. "You quit me before we sell that medicine, it's gonna cost you."

Jayne's features harden further still. "You sayin' I can't walk away? I ain't got the right?"

"Oh, you _bun sha gua_..." A dry chuckle escapes him. "You're a fine one to be bringin' up rights at a time like this, and do you really think --" The humor has fled; he's back in the valley of death, words dripping with bitter. " -- you honestly believe you'll last five minutes once you walk out that door?"

If he thought he'd seen mad before, he'd been sadly mistaken. Jayne's hand trembles over the big red button. He presses his advantage, if it is one.

"Ain't just me. Girl knows."

"What th' --"

Another chuckle. "'Course, I expect you didn't see the look on her face, what with her brother appointin' himself head o' your fan club. Which as I recall, can be a rather hazardous position --"

That did it. Howling air tears at Mal's clothes; he grips the doorframe, squints at the light of day that pours in.

"You got any last words, _Cap'n_ \-- better say 'em before we break atmo."

He struggles to make himself heard over the wind. "Matter of fact, I got a few -- _gorrammit, don't you turn your back on me!_ "

Jayne freezes, stands there a second before picking up the com once more. "Ain't nothin' I wanna hear."

"Won't be hearin' it much longer." He stands tall, every inch a captain. "Now since you saw fit to stab me in the back, let's have those final words face to face."

"What're you yammerin' about?" Jayne does turn round, but the renewed outrage says Mal's not getting through. "It ain't like I ratted _you_ out --"

"Oh, but you did!" The final stand doesn't fuel his anger, though it don't hurt; it's the desire for his words to grab this man by the throat, make him understand despite himself. "You turned on every last one aboard this boat, Jayne Cobb! More'n that, you did it to _me_. And that's a fact."

"Damn right I did!" The port window is suddenly full of that snarling visage. "Money was too good, I got stupid! You'da done the same if ya weren't too busy tryin' ta be some ruttin' hero --"

Mal holds down the switch, until the feedback whine makes Jayne disengage.

"I'm serious." His lips are dry, his voice cracking in protest at having to project over the din. "Be safer you jump out right now, spare Zoe the trouble. You could try to take her out before River cottons to it, but somethin' tells me you'll find that a mite troublesome, havin' gone and corralled yourself into the corner." He continues, relentlessly driving home the nail. "And you got nobody to blame. You did it to yourself."

" _Wang ba dan_ , whaddya want from me!" A fist slams the metal of the door, right next to Mal's ear, but he doesn't flinch. "I done fessed up to it! Ain't like sayin' sorry's gonna --"

"Not interested." He presses against the glass. "I wanna know if you're ashamed."

" _What?_ " Jayne's looking at him like he's crazy, which strikes Mal as remarkably perceptive at this point.

"'Cause I'd be happier sucked outta here in a million pieces than standin' one second longer next to some _hun dan_ don't know the meanin' of the word. But if you got a single shred of decency in that ugly, oversized body?" He can barely hear himself, and somehow it's no longer worth it. "Best watch your back all the more. 'Cause you'll be just enough a man to make 'em hate you that much worse."

He wants only to relax, let the wind take him, but he remains standing. Defiant to the last and he'll be damned if he walks away first, Jayne _will_ watch as he disappears out the hatch and maybe that final sight will stir that shred of mercy.

Or maybe the merc will just find it hilarious.

"S' too late!" Jayne looks genuinely torn. "I let you back in now, it's just 'cause ya scared me into it! You'll never know --"

The tug increases, lifting his feet from the floor. Jayne's face twists in real panic and he turns, scrambling for the button, _too late_ \--

A clang and silence, as the door slams shut.

Mal's heart slowly descends from his throat as his feet find terra firma, or the closest thing to it. Could be excused for thinking on other things right about now, but who --

River stands next to the panel, still in her plain white hospital gown; fingers resting on the big, red button. Her eyes are large and luminous as she stares Jayne down.

The merc's shoulders slump. "Wasn't gonna kill him."

"I know." Her head lists to one side, eyes disconcertingly focused upon him. "That's why you're alive."

  


* * *

  


Already Jayne regrets not snapping the leash for good. For whatever reason, it's no longer a simple work for hire relationship. They ain't friends, never will be, and everything about Mal rubs him the wrong way. And the worst part's knowing the right of it; that the captain truly is the better man.

Maybe someday, he'll be something like a good one.


End file.
